Christopher Nolan Refuses to Rule Out Return to Superhero Movies

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"Never say never"

Having created what some see as the definitive Batman movies with his Dark Knight trilogy, you might think that director Christopher Nolan would be entirely done with superhero movies. It turns out that he’s not so ready to definitively make that decision.

“I think I had a great experience with the superhero genre and got to explore a lot of things, but it was a good decade of my life and I find it hard to imagine returning to it,” Nolan told Time Out while promoting Interstellar, before adding, “But never say never.”

The director said that he hoped that he added something to the superhero genre. “I know to some extent we encouraged more of it,” he admitted. “Well, you know, as long as that's the ride people want, the studios will continue to offer it. I don't see it as a limited genre. If I did, I never would have worked for almost ten years in that genre. I think like any genre, like the Western, it has limitless opportunities. It's just about the audience's appetite.”

Responding to whether he believes that the Dark Knight trilogy raised the bar for superhero movies, he said “I would love to think so. It’s not really for me to say, but it was the ambition for the films, definitely. When you work in any genre, you’re looking to transcend it."

In addition to Nolan's three Batman movies (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises), he had input in the writing of Zack Snyder's 2013 Man of Steel, which he also produced. He is an executive producer on that movie's 2016 follow-up, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.